Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha has admitted that the company’s earlier use of “dark patterns”–deceptive design practices used to manipulate users’ choices–on its app was a misstep, confirming that the practices have since been scrapped.In a recent interview with Forbes magazine, Palicha addressed the backlash over delivery fees, product quality concerns, and operational issues that had sparked a discussion.The 23-year-old acknowledged that the previous changes were misguided and were rolled back. The allegations made against the quick-commerce platform were related to hidden charges, selective pricing, inflated MRPs, ambiguous discounts, and other transparency issues.Several Reddit users highlighted a long list of fees they considered unreasonable, claiming that customers were being hit with various add-ons beyond the usual delivery cost. These included a “rain fee” with an associated GST charge, a Rs 10 “cash handling fee”, “item handling cost”, “convenience fee”, “small cart fee”, and “processing fee”.Palicha explained that the company’s approach to delivery pricing had been experimental. “I think we ran experiments on delivery fees and pricing. We tried different approaches and figured things out,” he said. He also admitted that consumer reactions were, in many instances, fair. “A lot of it wasn’t received well on social media or by consumers, and honestly, much of the feedback was valid,” he added.Palicha stressed that the reversal of these practices was not prompted by government pressure. “There wasn’t any regulatory angle to it and it had nothing to do with government intervention. We just felt it wasn’t the right thing for consumers. The feedback was negative, so we voluntarily decided to roll it back. Within 45–60 days, we had addressed it and moved on,” he said.Palicha also distinguished pricing concerns from the controversy over expired items. “Things like the expired product issue were a bit blown out of proportion. But the dark patterns concern was something we genuinely could have solved, and we did. I’ll be candid. It was a mistake. We killed it. It won’t happen again,” he said.Story continues below this ad“We ran experiments on delivery fees and pricing… a lot of the feedback was valid. The negative feedback made us realise this isn’t who we are. So we killed it. It’s been gone for a while now,” he added.Also Read | Narayana Murthy advocates 72-hour work week, praises China’s 9-9-6 rule: ‘Get a life and then worry about work-life balance’Earlier this month, Zepto removed handling charges, surge-based levies, and convenience fees as part of an updated policy.The CEO also addressed the temporary suspension of Zepto’s warehouse licence in Dharavi by Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration. Following an inspection in June, officials flagged fungal contamination on packets, expired goods stored alongside fresh stock, cold-chain lapses, and hygiene issues. “The expired product that people were talking about in one of our stores wasn’t actually in the sellable section,” he said.Palicha elaborated on the company’s warehouse protocols. “In our stores, we have a sellable section and a non-sellable section. The non-sellable section is where we move products that have expired. What happened was someone took a photo of the non-sellable section, the expired bin, and claimed it was being sold to customers. But that wasn’t the case,” he said.